Frohe Weihnachten!
This Saturday, we brought back a tradition that was started years ago in the 5.Klasse: Cookie Saturday!
We spent the class period with each student decorating their own bundle of cookies, both sugar and gingerbread, of various shapes. Shortly beforehand, we went over the vocabulary for the shapes, so as to make the whole cookie thing at least slightly academic.
Also provided was a handout containing the following: a German-style Lebkuchenfiguren recipe, exposition over the differences between European and American recipes (ingredients done by weight instead of by volume, metric instead of standard, etc), vocabulary for the various words listed in the German recipe, and for the parents, a copy of the recipe that we actually used to make the cookies--I hope you like it!
There is no homework assigned over the break; however, the week after we come back, there will be a redo of the test that was taken last week.
Mit Vergnügen~
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
8.Dezember - Prüfungstag
Hello all,
As you are doubtless aware, I was not present for class on Saturday thanks to the flu that'd likewise kept me out of the office all week.
The majority of scheduled class time was to be spent taking the first major test of the year.
Next week, we originally were not supposed to have class due to the museum trip; however, as you have been informed, this trip was cancelled. Soooooo for those students who are in attendance on 15. December, we'll be spending our class time with something fun, whimsical and, most importantly, tasty.
Mit Vergnügen~
As you are doubtless aware, I was not present for class on Saturday thanks to the flu that'd likewise kept me out of the office all week.
The majority of scheduled class time was to be spent taking the first major test of the year.
Next week, we originally were not supposed to have class due to the museum trip; however, as you have been informed, this trip was cancelled. Soooooo for those students who are in attendance on 15. December, we'll be spending our class time with something fun, whimsical and, most importantly, tasty.
Mit Vergnügen~
Saturday, December 1, 2012
1.Dezember - Befestigt euch; Winter kommt.
Today saw the beginning of a new tradition in the 5th grade class here, namely the naming of our class mascot: the Spielzeugkuh. I will have to find a toy cow to display in the classroom somewhere for years to come now.
It began like any other Saturday, but quickly this illusion was shattered when I wrote 8 ominous columns on the board: 8 categories, 8 topics, each with numbers 1-1000. It was time... for Jeopardy.
As is tradition, since next week is going to be our cumulative semester test, today was review day in the form of a class-long game of Jeopardy.
In the end, the team "Augen" beat out the team "Kluge" by about 1500 points.
After lunch, and before the Singprobe, we went over Nikolaustag and read the poem, "Nikolaus, ich wart schon lange," reading it together, translating it in stanzas, and then finally acting it out. One of the many things wished for in the poem is a "Spielzeugkuh," and somehow the kids thought the idea of a toy cow was just hilarious, so one of them took it upon himself to dress up and act like the cow during the acting portion. He then wore that costume (made of notebook paper colored in with black blotches and taped to his clothes) to the singing practice, mooing all the way.
And so was born our new mascot, the Spielzeugkuh, forever immortalized in toy form once I can find a cow. If you have a toy cow you would like to donate to the class instead, just let me know and this shall be gladly accepted and prominently displayed.
For next week's test, I recommend studying the following:
It began like any other Saturday, but quickly this illusion was shattered when I wrote 8 ominous columns on the board: 8 categories, 8 topics, each with numbers 1-1000. It was time... for Jeopardy.
As is tradition, since next week is going to be our cumulative semester test, today was review day in the form of a class-long game of Jeopardy.
In the end, the team "Augen" beat out the team "Kluge" by about 1500 points.
After lunch, and before the Singprobe, we went over Nikolaustag and read the poem, "Nikolaus, ich wart schon lange," reading it together, translating it in stanzas, and then finally acting it out. One of the many things wished for in the poem is a "Spielzeugkuh," and somehow the kids thought the idea of a toy cow was just hilarious, so one of them took it upon himself to dress up and act like the cow during the acting portion. He then wore that costume (made of notebook paper colored in with black blotches and taped to his clothes) to the singing practice, mooing all the way.
And so was born our new mascot, the Spielzeugkuh, forever immortalized in toy form once I can find a cow. If you have a toy cow you would like to donate to the class instead, just let me know and this shall be gladly accepted and prominently displayed.
For next week's test, I recommend studying the following:
- Modal verbs, meaning and usage of möchten and dürfen
- Food vocabulary as gone over earlier in the year (sausage, hamburger, pizza, pretzel, orange juice, milk, tee, coffee, fries, bread, water, egg, cake, cookies) with articles
- Family vocabulary
- Regular verb conjugation
- Definite articles in nominative and accusative
- Negation (nicht, nichts, nie, niemand)
- Interrogatives (wo, wer, wie, was, wann)
Mit Vergnügen
Monday, November 19, 2012
17.November - Schönes Fest!
Grüße an alle!
As promised and forewarned, Saturday's class opened with a quiz over the vocabulary we've accumulated from listening comprehension exercises (the songs) so far this year. It went rather well, as it was apparent that most everyone had studied.
We then reviewed the conjugation guidelines for regular verbs, as well as haben and sein, and jumped into a brand new unit that will be following us for the rest of the year: happy-fun-delicious-delightful modal verbs!
Beginning with the informal semi-modal verb möchten and introducing dürfen, we went over the basic use of modal verbs including the proper structuring of a compound verb phrase. This lead into what is easily one of the sillier games in our repertoire, "Lehrer Darf Ich?" a variation of the classic "Mother May I?" In essence, commands were given, then confirmed by saying the title phrase, and silliness ensued. That is probably the first time I've ever seen someone attempt to follow the commands "Sleep," "run," "sing" and "fly" simultaneously.
Finishing off the day after lunch in the time we had left before Singprobe, we discussed thankfulness and brainstormed about the things for which we are thankful. We then made posters with the phrase, "Ich bin dankbar für..." followed by drawings of what we're thankful for paired with the words for them, e.g. "meinen Hund" followed by a picture of a dog.
And now, the homework, to be turned in on 1. December:
P. 47, Exercises 5,6
P.50, Exercises 2,3
Finish the, "Ich bin dankbar für..." poster if not completed in class
Mit Vergnügen!
As promised and forewarned, Saturday's class opened with a quiz over the vocabulary we've accumulated from listening comprehension exercises (the songs) so far this year. It went rather well, as it was apparent that most everyone had studied.
We then reviewed the conjugation guidelines for regular verbs, as well as haben and sein, and jumped into a brand new unit that will be following us for the rest of the year: happy-fun-delicious-delightful modal verbs!
Beginning with the informal semi-modal verb möchten and introducing dürfen, we went over the basic use of modal verbs including the proper structuring of a compound verb phrase. This lead into what is easily one of the sillier games in our repertoire, "Lehrer Darf Ich?" a variation of the classic "Mother May I?" In essence, commands were given, then confirmed by saying the title phrase, and silliness ensued. That is probably the first time I've ever seen someone attempt to follow the commands "Sleep," "run," "sing" and "fly" simultaneously.
Finishing off the day after lunch in the time we had left before Singprobe, we discussed thankfulness and brainstormed about the things for which we are thankful. We then made posters with the phrase, "Ich bin dankbar für..." followed by drawings of what we're thankful for paired with the words for them, e.g. "meinen Hund" followed by a picture of a dog.
And now, the homework, to be turned in on 1. December:
P. 47, Exercises 5,6
P.50, Exercises 2,3
Finish the, "Ich bin dankbar für..." poster if not completed in class
Mit Vergnügen!
Saturday, November 10, 2012
10.November - St Martins Tag
Grüß an euch alle!
As you may have noticed, I was not present last week. While there was homework, if your child was not present in class and as such did not get the assignment, there will be no penalty. Those who did the homework will be given a 100.
Today we had a Pop Quiz over how to tell time, as this was the subject that was introduced last week by the sub, Hr. Bauer. Adding onto the time unit, we learned today also about the 24-hr clock used for official schedules and public transportation across Europe, as well as how to use the phrases "halb (vor/nach)" and "viertel (vor/nach)" (half to/after, quarter to/after).
The quiz went well, and I was pleased how much they had learned the previous week.
Then we had a roleplay break. Set into pairs, one student playing a boss, the other an employee, they made dialogues about why the employee was late to work, e.g. "Die Polizei folgten mir nach, denn ich war zu Schnell unterwegs, dann kommt der Dinosaur..."
Our activity to follow-up was to learn the vocabulary for school subjects (p.35 of the textbook) and then make our own school schedules accordingly, e.g. "Um 10 Uhr lernen wir Mathematik..."
Post-lunch, we re-introduced the idea of St. Martin's day, going over the legend of St. Martin of Tours. Just in time for the parade that yearly comes by, all the other classes going around with lanterns, singing the "Laterne, Laterne..." song, our class laid in wait. As has become a tradition of the 5. Klasse in recent years, we made goose puppets. We waited until the parade went by, then hopped out of the classroom right behind the group and followed along, honking our little hearts out like good geese.
Then we had singing practice, and that was the day.
Now as was promised/warned each class period for the last month, the day will finally come NEXT WEEK that we have a quiz over our Hörverständnis vocabulary, taking selections from the vocab banks of all our previously-done song exercises.
Here is what will be on the quiz:
The verbs: brennen, kommen, haben, sehen, stehlen
The words: der Gruß, das Lied, der Balloon, der Krieg, das Kind/die Kinder, der Freund, die Freundin
die Zeit, die Leute, die Macht, das Jahr, das Fernsehen, Deshalb, Nie/Niemals, das Herz
So long as they know these words in both languages, that will be sufficient.
Mit Vergnügen!
As you may have noticed, I was not present last week. While there was homework, if your child was not present in class and as such did not get the assignment, there will be no penalty. Those who did the homework will be given a 100.
Today we had a Pop Quiz over how to tell time, as this was the subject that was introduced last week by the sub, Hr. Bauer. Adding onto the time unit, we learned today also about the 24-hr clock used for official schedules and public transportation across Europe, as well as how to use the phrases "halb (vor/nach)" and "viertel (vor/nach)" (half to/after, quarter to/after).
The quiz went well, and I was pleased how much they had learned the previous week.
Then we had a roleplay break. Set into pairs, one student playing a boss, the other an employee, they made dialogues about why the employee was late to work, e.g. "Die Polizei folgten mir nach, denn ich war zu Schnell unterwegs, dann kommt der Dinosaur..."
Our activity to follow-up was to learn the vocabulary for school subjects (p.35 of the textbook) and then make our own school schedules accordingly, e.g. "Um 10 Uhr lernen wir Mathematik..."
Post-lunch, we re-introduced the idea of St. Martin's day, going over the legend of St. Martin of Tours. Just in time for the parade that yearly comes by, all the other classes going around with lanterns, singing the "Laterne, Laterne..." song, our class laid in wait. As has become a tradition of the 5. Klasse in recent years, we made goose puppets. We waited until the parade went by, then hopped out of the classroom right behind the group and followed along, honking our little hearts out like good geese.
Then we had singing practice, and that was the day.
Now as was promised/warned each class period for the last month, the day will finally come NEXT WEEK that we have a quiz over our Hörverständnis vocabulary, taking selections from the vocab banks of all our previously-done song exercises.
Here is what will be on the quiz:
The verbs: brennen, kommen, haben, sehen, stehlen
The words: der Gruß, das Lied, der Balloon, der Krieg, das Kind/die Kinder, der Freund, die Freundin
die Zeit, die Leute, die Macht, das Jahr, das Fernsehen, Deshalb, Nie/Niemals, das Herz
So long as they know these words in both languages, that will be sufficient.
Mit Vergnügen!
Saturday, October 27, 2012
27.Oktober - der schaurigste Schultag!!!!
Today was scary, absolutely terrifying. It was also the day when we unofficially celebrated Halloween.
The spooky day was begun with a spooky listening comprehension exercise courtesy of Rammstein's Rosenrot. I will remind again that there will before long be a quiz over the vocabulary-to-date from these listening comprehension exercises, so please make sure your child keeps these somewhere they can be retrieved when need arises.
We then stretched our spooky brain muscles with a scary essay, "Das Schaurigste Ding," wherein each child described in at least 10 sentences what to them seemed to be the scariest thing of all. Answers ranged from such staples as zombies and more zombies to invisible cats, fry cooks and 'blood and eyes'. Not disembodied or haunted blood and eyes, but just plain blood and eyes, apparently. At least one kid will not grow up to be a surgeon or taxidermist, it seems.
Expounding upon the previously learned my (mein(e)) and your (dein(e)) possessive adjectives, we went over kein(e) as well, which lead us into the beard game. "Bart, Kein Bart" is basically a mimicking game--each child would say a collection of phrases (Bart, Kein Bart, Mein Bart, Dein Bart) and do motions associated with them, and another child would have to mimic them exactly or else be cast forth from the game.
To exorcise our wiggles after lunch, we played "Vampir," a variant on "Stasi Mann" from earlier in the year. In a nutshell, each round the König(in)vampir would claim another victim, who would join the secret vampire army. Each round, the vampires grew in number. If the child who was the Polizist did not correctly guess who the König(in)vampir was in time, he would be overrun by vampires and lose the game. Out of 5 games, the Polizist only survived twice.
And then suddenly, there was a parade. We went ahead and joined this, marching around the school in costume. In case you were at all curious, my outfit was that of a Stasi Agent, for they can look like anyone.
Ending the day, candy was distributed, but only if the children used the terms they were taught for expressing desire (gern haben) and requesting (möchten, bitte). They were then allowed to trade candy amongst themselves as well, but only if they continued using the proper phrasing.
Now, the homework:
Workbook
P.20, Exercises 4,5
P.22, Exercise 9
P.23, Exercises 1-3
Mit Vergnügen!
The spooky day was begun with a spooky listening comprehension exercise courtesy of Rammstein's Rosenrot. I will remind again that there will before long be a quiz over the vocabulary-to-date from these listening comprehension exercises, so please make sure your child keeps these somewhere they can be retrieved when need arises.
We then stretched our spooky brain muscles with a scary essay, "Das Schaurigste Ding," wherein each child described in at least 10 sentences what to them seemed to be the scariest thing of all. Answers ranged from such staples as zombies and more zombies to invisible cats, fry cooks and 'blood and eyes'. Not disembodied or haunted blood and eyes, but just plain blood and eyes, apparently. At least one kid will not grow up to be a surgeon or taxidermist, it seems.
Expounding upon the previously learned my (mein(e)) and your (dein(e)) possessive adjectives, we went over kein(e) as well, which lead us into the beard game. "Bart, Kein Bart" is basically a mimicking game--each child would say a collection of phrases (Bart, Kein Bart, Mein Bart, Dein Bart) and do motions associated with them, and another child would have to mimic them exactly or else be cast forth from the game.
To exorcise our wiggles after lunch, we played "Vampir," a variant on "Stasi Mann" from earlier in the year. In a nutshell, each round the König(in)vampir would claim another victim, who would join the secret vampire army. Each round, the vampires grew in number. If the child who was the Polizist did not correctly guess who the König(in)vampir was in time, he would be overrun by vampires and lose the game. Out of 5 games, the Polizist only survived twice.
And then suddenly, there was a parade. We went ahead and joined this, marching around the school in costume. In case you were at all curious, my outfit was that of a Stasi Agent, for they can look like anyone.
Ending the day, candy was distributed, but only if the children used the terms they were taught for expressing desire (gern haben) and requesting (möchten, bitte). They were then allowed to trade candy amongst themselves as well, but only if they continued using the proper phrasing.
Now, the homework:
Workbook
P.20, Exercises 4,5
P.22, Exercise 9
P.23, Exercises 1-3
Mit Vergnügen!
Saturday, October 20, 2012
20.Oktober - neue Freunde auf dem Mond
Today we learned that the best places to make new friends are where you'd least expect it, such as on the moon or during the middle of a zombie attack.
The day began with another handout from the Sandra and Woo comic. This then lead into a quick review of the conjugation of regular verbs as well as "sein," and then we did a listening comprehension exercise with Mein Herz Brennt from Rammstein. Please do remind your children to keep all listening comprehension exercises as we will, before long, have a quiz over their vocabulary selections.
Now for the bit that will make the introductory statement make sense. Divided up into partners, the students made interrogative dialogues with one another. They played the roles of people who ran into each other in whatever situation they could imagine, and then they would ask each other questions they thought would be relevant to get to know each other in these situations. For some reason, it seems the most relevant questions to ask a new friend during a zombie attack are such as, "Was trinkst du?" or "So... wie findest du diese Zombies?"
One partner pair that may or may not have just been me talking at myself played a pair of astronauts unexpectedly running into each other on the moon.
For the rest of the afternoon after lunch, after going further into interrogative words (wo, wie, wer, was, warum, wohin, woher) we played "Stasimann," a game where one person in the class was a stasi agent or informant, and every round, someone was taken off to prison for unlawful conduct. The class was then allowed to ask one question of me, the narrator, to figure out who the Stasi was. Some questions were gamebreakers, e.g. "Ist es ein Mädchen?" when we only had two boys in the class, whereas others weren't particularly helpful, e.g. "Was ist die Farbe seines Schuhes?" (every kid but one had black shoes).
And now, for the homework:
Workbook
The day began with another handout from the Sandra and Woo comic. This then lead into a quick review of the conjugation of regular verbs as well as "sein," and then we did a listening comprehension exercise with Mein Herz Brennt from Rammstein. Please do remind your children to keep all listening comprehension exercises as we will, before long, have a quiz over their vocabulary selections.
Now for the bit that will make the introductory statement make sense. Divided up into partners, the students made interrogative dialogues with one another. They played the roles of people who ran into each other in whatever situation they could imagine, and then they would ask each other questions they thought would be relevant to get to know each other in these situations. For some reason, it seems the most relevant questions to ask a new friend during a zombie attack are such as, "Was trinkst du?" or "So... wie findest du diese Zombies?"
One partner pair that may or may not have just been me talking at myself played a pair of astronauts unexpectedly running into each other on the moon.
For the rest of the afternoon after lunch, after going further into interrogative words (wo, wie, wer, was, warum, wohin, woher) we played "Stasimann," a game where one person in the class was a stasi agent or informant, and every round, someone was taken off to prison for unlawful conduct. The class was then allowed to ask one question of me, the narrator, to figure out who the Stasi was. Some questions were gamebreakers, e.g. "Ist es ein Mädchen?" when we only had two boys in the class, whereas others weren't particularly helpful, e.g. "Was ist die Farbe seines Schuhes?" (every kid but one had black shoes).
And now, for the homework:
Workbook
S.12, Übung 11, S.15, Übung 1, 3, S. 19, Übung 3
Mit Vergnügen~
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